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August Majap Shipments Flat

Big demand for
room air conditioners during the dog
days of August helped prop up wholesale
sales of major appliances last
month.

Factory shipments of ACs skyrocketed
51.6 percent in August to
nearly 200,000 units, the Association
of Home Appliance Manufacturers
(AHAM) reported. But according to
the trade group’s latest wholesale figures,
unit shipments of the industry’s
six core categories – washers, dryers,
dishwashers, refrigerators, freezers,
ranges and ovens – fell 4.8 percent
year over year, revealing the underlying
weakness in the marketplace.

Total majap shipments were essentially
flat, slipping 0.6 percent to 4.4
million units in August and 0.5 percent
year to date.

Only two other categories, kitchen
cleanup and cooking, posted gains
last month. The former was up 2
percent in unit factory shipments on
strength in portable dishwashers,
which surged 18.3 percent, while
cooking edged up 1.6 percent solely
on the back of microwave ovens,
which enjoyed an 8.4 percent spike
last month. All other cooking sub-sectors
fell by mid-single to double-digit
percentages year over year.

Elsewhere, food preservation fell by
4.1 percent during what is traditionally
a strong month for the category on
big drops in stand-alone freezers and
a 2.7 percent decline in refrigerators,
to some 805,000 units. Refrigeration
is now down 6.3 percent for the year.

Home laundry took an even bigger
hit, down 8.1 percent on a 10.1 percent
decline in clothes washers and
a 5.4 percent drop in dryers. Like refrigeration,
laundry is now down 6.2
percent for the year.

The monthly AHAM report is based
on vendor-supplied data for the U.S.
market. The August figures include
shipments of imported and domestically
produced products for the fourweek
period between July 31 and
Aug. 27.